Page 48 of Protected By Her Mate

I’m overtaken by the giggles again when he opens the door to our room and I’m confronted by every horror movie that ever featured a room exactly like this. I glance around for the dead body, but there’s none.

“What kind of movies are you watching?” Lennox asks, dropping his leather bag next to a chair.

“There you go, reading my mind again.” I struggle out of my jacket, dropping it on the floor before falling face first onto the hard mattress with a groan. I turn my head toward him. “I’m gonna fall asleep now.” I roll onto my side and pat the bed next to me. “You can sleep here.”

“I’ll take the chair,” Lennox says.

“Suit your…” My eyes drift shut of their own volition and the last thing I feel is Lennox pulling my shoes off and tossing a blanket over me.

I don’t know how long I sleep but it’s pitch black in the room when I wake. I sit up, squinting into the darkness. Lennox’s deep even breaths are coming from the direction of the chair, which seems to be near the door. He must’ve moved it.

I slide off the bed, trying not to wake him as I make my way to the washroom. After emptying my bladder, I turn on the shower, doing my best to ignore the bathtub stains and shoddy curtain. I’m no princess (unless I marry Lennox, which is a hard pass until he admits we’re mates), but this place is not going to be a future favourite vacation haunt.

At least the water is hot and the pressure isn’t terrible. When I finish, I wrap a thin, scratchy towel around myself and brush my teeth and hair. Picking up my travel-worn clothes, I wrinkle my nose. Nope, can’t do it.

I turn off the bathroom light before stepping into the room, not wanting to wake Lennox. He’s already up, lamplight illuminating his big form slouched in the chair which he placed directly in front of the door.

“Are we expecting trouble?” I ask, trying to ignore the fact that I’m still dripping, wearing a flimsy towel.

“I always expect trouble, it’s how I’ve stayed alive this long.”

I try to imagine 700 years of this type of vigilance. “You must be exhausted.”

His eyes move up and down me, glinting with need. An answering throb starts deep inside my core.

“You need to put something on.”

I lift my chin. “I wasn’t exactly planning on wearing this.”

“Now, Charlie,” he snaps, gnashing his teeth.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m working on it.” I bend over, reaching for my bag, but he leaps to his feet tearing it away from me. I turn to him, hands on my hips. “What is your problem?”

“You’re teasing me,” he accuses, towering over me.

When I try to take a step back, he grips my arms, stopping me.

“I’m not teasing you,” I snap, leaning back so I can look up into his face. It looks strained with longing. “I didn’t ask for the one-bed trope, but here we are. We can both act like adults and – “

He cuts me off by lowering his head and taking my mouth in a kiss. Not just a kiss, but an open mouth ravaging of the senses. My nipples peak and my lady bits flood as he tongues me like a prospector digging for gold.

I wrench back, breaking his hold, though I’m under no illusion I could have done it if he hadn’t allowed it. As much as he’s struggling to control himself, the superior iron control of Lennox Wolven-North never fails.

“Why are you so angry at me?” he demands. “Is that why you insist on testing me?”

“I’m not testing you!” I shout. “I needed a shower, I took a shower, I chose not to put dirty panties back on. That’s all. If you can’t keep it in your pants, that’s on you.”

He lets out a long groan that turns into a growl. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Don’t I?” I really don’t, but I’m not going to let him win whatever this is. Something inside me is telling me I’m fighting for a happy ever after and the consequences of not winning are too high. “You know why I’m mad?” I stalk toward him, poking my finger into his chest and marvelling at the rock-hard flesh beneath the tip. I stroke him as I continue, “You deny being my mate, yet you won’t let me out of your sight. I see you sitting on my fire escape every night. I feel your presence when we’re not together. You infiltrate my mind, but tell me we can’t be together, push me away when I try to comfort you.” I glare, razing him with my inner fire. “I don’t like being jerked around by a hot and cold wolf. You’re either in this game or you’re out, but you need to stop telling me what to do.”

Guilt twists his expression. “Look, Charlie, I’m…”

Hating that he’s about to ruin our fiery moment with an apology I grip him around the neck, going up on my toes to kiss him. I land a sloppy one on his jaw. “Damn it,” I mutter, my breath raising gooseflesh on his throat.

“What?”

“That was supposed to be my dramatic way of saying make love to me, you beast, but it didn’t work. I’m too short. Or you’re too tall.”

---